[Anouk]

Hello everyone, I hope this is the right subforum for this:
i have a 4.4g imod with a cryo x silver cable. I am not sure what to do with my portable rig currently... I have tried a few portable amps, I want to buy the lisa 3 but the lisa has only got rca outputs so i cannot connect it to my imod as it is... I would also need a dac for it because I use my laptop a lot. I was thinking about the pico dac which comes out in februari, i hope... But then i would alos need rca-cables. I have dimarzio interconnects at home but they are too bulky for portable use... I was planning to customize my imod witha custom imod dock, but this would allg et really costly and I am not sure if it is worth it... It owuld allg et rather bulky too which sucks because it all has to fit in my laptop case... I was planning to get the normal lisa so not the xp version. This would mean i would have to try and get 500mah rechargable 9v batteries.
I have also been thinking of selling my imod and trying to get one of the few irivers with optical out, i am not sure however if there are any dacs with optical input and rca as output... and I am also not sure if this is a better solution then imod+dock+lisa....
And lastly i have been thinking of just selling my imod an dbuying a zen stone or ipod shuffle and using the lisa with my laptop only, but that would e a pity because i travel by bus a lot and then i cant use my laptop.
Any opinions would be appreciated.
Greetings, Anouk,

 

[EFN]

First you need to determine which rig you spend time the most and which one you tend to listen critically. Keeping two set of portable rig can be daunting and to this very end I decided to forsake my laptop setup altogether and go all the way with transportable rig which will serve me while on the move and at home/office. I'd say you go all the way with your laptop rig and get that Lisa III, look also for some lightweight USB DAC off eBay that offers RCA output so that you can pair them with the Lisa input. Just do a search on USB DAC and you will be surprised how many there are out there. Look for those self powering through USB. Head-Fi sponsor Kingrex have a few, check them out. And for your bus trip, get a 30GB zune because until today I find it to be among the best DAP unamped.

 

[qusp]

the lisa standard comes with the 9V batteries, you just need to pick up a regulated wall wart that supplies between 22-24v. and for your dac I would see about getting someone here to build you a gamma1 from AMB labs. this could be built with RCA outs in a different case. or you could just use a mini->rca cable with the standard build. it has spdif on coax and optical and usb in too. can also be used as a multiplexor so you can input coax and output optical and vice versa.